Other than your experience with your doctor, what you described is near perfect recreation of my experience prior to getting medication. Afterwards those coping mechanisms nigh complete disappeared almost overnight.

Keep pushing to at least get a trial run with the medication and seeing if it helps you. Also if your doctor is seriously ignoring your concerns, consider looking for a better doctor. People often place way too much confidence in their doctors and stick with crappy doctors who don't make efforts to resolve their patients concerns.

Best of luck finding something that helps you get away from those coping mechanisms.

Note: This post is a little rambly since I am typing this up while doing something else but I felt the need to comment.